(Newser)
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Japan will soon be completely without nuclear power. Again. The country is switching off the last of its 50 nuclear reactors—reactor 4 at Oi in western Japan—for maintenance tomorrow, and it's unclear if or when it will go online again, reports CNN. The country went completely nuclear power-free for the first time in 40 years last year, but the Oi reactors were turned back on again a few months later, reports the BBC.

Other power companies around the country have applied to turn back on about 12 other reactors, and PM Shinzo Abe would like to say yes, but the public has been unsurprisingly down on nuclear power since the Fukushima disaster. Japan used to run on about 30% nuclear power, and the average Japanese household's electricity bill has gone up 30% since Fukushima. (Read more nuclear power stories.)

Hilarious the reaction to "nuclear power". The disaster was not a nuclear accident. The idiots did not have enough backup power to fund the pumps to keep the reactors cool when they all scrammed because of the earthquake. They put the what few generators they had (which weren't enough anyway) in the freaking basement where the water got to them. Not to mention they weren't water proofed. Any child could have seen the holes in their emergency plans but knowing the draconian top down management style of the Japanese, I am not surprised with what happened. Its just a shame the knee jerk reaction by morons that don't know any better besmirching nuclear power when its clear that nuclear is the way of the future even with the vast natural gas reserves being found. The real reason the others are being shut down is they have the same exact weaknesses. Some of them are being funded to be changed. Those proper backup systems are looking pretty damn cheap now.

jgarbuz

Sep 15, 2013 6:23 PM CDT

Wonderful, Japan. See, a country with no oil and practically no natural gas or much coal has decided it can live well without nuclear power. I hope Japan succeeds and puts everyone else to shame. The third most powerful economy in the world has decided it can live without nuclear power plants. Puts us all to shame.

fractal

Sep 15, 2013 6:13 PM CDT

Shouldn't you clean up the current nuclear disaster, before you start working on the next one?